“Fixing what is broken”: Exclusive interview with US Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart on Immigration Reform.

This 2013 is the year when all requirements are covered for the timely development and approval of the longtime needed legislation for Immigration Reform. The Republican Leadership agrees with the Democratic Leadership and the President on the urgency of addressing this issue once and for all. Although all elements have the intention of walking the path together, there is still a long and rocky road ahead.

Having a bipartisan commitment in both chambers of the Congress, and counting with the genuine interest of President Obama makes this the right time to spark the hope on many people affected, that finally this year the Government will go ahead to fix what everybody knows has been broken for quite a long time.

After the announcement on Monday January 29th of a framework for Immigration Reform, made by a bipartisan group of well-respected Senators, Doral Family Journal had the chance of an exclusive interview with US Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, who has been working, along with a bipartisan group of Representatives, championing the immigration reform in the House for several years now.

The job of US Congress Representatives is to be the voice and opinion of the residents in their district on all decisions about legislations that affect everyone in the Union. It has been like that since the First Continental Congress was installed in 1774.

The office of US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, located in Doral, gives support to all residents in the 25th District of Florida, regardless of being citizens of the United States.

Mr. Diaz-Balart explains it: “Our office provides services and assistance to anyone in the district who may have any issue regarding the Federal Government; whether it is a problem with a Federal agency, issues with their Social Security or Medicare, Veterans issues, etc. Any issue dealing with the Federal government, we are here to provide assistance. Many of the people, I would say probably the majority of the people we deal with, have issues with immigration; whatever they may be, our office deals with that area frequently”.

It is for that extensive experience on dealing with immigration issues, and his commitment with his constituents that Mr. Diaz-Balart has been able to effectively work together with a group of other Representatives, both Republicans and Democrats, in order to push forward a bipartisan effort in the House for a comprehensive legislation on Immigration.

A compatible framework and bipartisan work in the issue

Mr. Diaz-Balart considers the framework proposed by a group of very well-respected senators, from both political parties in the US, “very compatible with what a number of us in the House have been working on a bipartisan way for several years now. They have put together a framework as to what some of the issues are and how to, in general terms, they should be resolved. I think that the framework they did shows a number of things: number one that they are serious; number two that they want to solve the problem, not just put some band aids, but solve the issue and it is clearly not only a reasonable approach, but also I think a very well-reasoned approach and that is a very positive thing.”

He is enthusiastic on affirming that a group of House Representatives will be ready “to answer in short order with not a framework but with an actual bill, an actual legislative proposal, with all the details and all the intricacies. That is what a number of us have been working for a long time, but what we never had was either the Republican Leadership or the Democratic Leadership or the President”

With all key players on board, for Mr. Diaz-Balart this is now the right time for pursuing the immigration reform. “What you are seeing now is clearly that the Republicans, the Speaker of the House, Boehner has been speaking about this now quite a bit, and pushing it forward. We see the Republican Leadership and the Democratic Leadership of the House genuinely supporting it. Same thing seems to be happening in the Senate. And the President now seems to genuinely want to do it too”.

“That may sound a little strange but, the reality is that with the exception of when President Bush tried to get it done, and with the exception of when my brother Lincoln Diaz-Balart with Ileana Ros-Lethinen did the NACARA Bill (the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act in 1997) that legalized half a million people, without those two exceptions, the leadership of both parties, regardless of what they said publicly did not want to get it done. That I genuinely believed has changed, so it is still very difficult to get done, but I hope that in short order we will be able to code the legislation”.

When will it be done and what will it cover?

About a timeframe on when a passed bill can be expected, Diaz-Balart agrees with Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) that it has to be done by this summer the latest “ if we do not get it done by this year it would not happen for at least another four years. It is now or after the next presidential election.”

“I think we have one opportunity, that it is now and this is the right time. The good news is that you have very well respected members in the Senate from both parties who are willing to step out probably and say ‘we are going to do this, we are going to work together to do this’. We have the leadership of both parties saying that they want to get it done and I believe this time is genuine. And then you have members in the House from both parties, Congressman Gutierrez among others, Republican and Democrats, who have been working together despite our differences on this issue, willing to solve this issue. And to solve it long term, really solve it”.

It means a complete overhaul of immigration legislation covering all aspects of the issue: “we need to solve the border security issue; the US cannot be the only country in the world that cannot determine who comes and who leaves. Also the Internal Security Issue, the employer verification. Then we also need to deal with the issues of the Dreamers, who are in limbo and we have solve that. For our economic interest we need to solve this issue; the fact that we do not have a system where people can really apply legally to come to the US in any reasonable fashion to come to work”.

Congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart, Gaby Pacheco and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

And the list continues: “We have to deal with the facts that for example, we have the STEM Visas, people that come to the US, get educated in our finest engineering schools and when they finished, we send them back to their country. We educate them and send them out of the country to compete against us! So we have to deal with at. We have to deal with the fact that it takes years and years to try to come legally to the US and no immigration plan would be worth if we do not finally deal with the millions of people who are here, In a reasonable, respectful and automated way. It has to be in a way that conforms to The Rule of Law, exactly what I mean, and that respect the rights to those that came legally or are in line to come legally to de US. All this have to be part of this deal, which is why it is very complicated”.

Diaz-Balart is “cautiously optimistic” on the timeframe and broad scope of the legislation that have to be developed. It all still depends on the bipartisan commitment to get it done. “I think that everyone recognizes and agrees that the system is broken so what I want to do is to fix what is broken. American people are frankly expecting and demanding from us to do it. We believe we have an obligation to fix what is broken and this is not a mystery by the way. So let’s go ahead and do that, find a real permanent solution. I was sent to Washington by the voters of my district to work on fixing what is broken and when you talk about immigration it is not a secret to anybody that what is broken is pretty much everything. That is how I look at it.”

We have to fix what is broken

“I don’t care of the semantics, if you want to call it this or that” comments Diaz-Balart. “It is interesting. Many times those that call anything that is proposed to fix what we all know is broken, they call anything that anybody proposed an amnesty, but If I may quote Senator John McCain, what we have today is de facto amnesty. That is amnesty. We have 10 or 11 million people in the US that are here and every day that goes by and we don’t fix the immigration system they are still here in the shadows, that is amnesty.”

“Those that like to accuse everybody else or every proposal of amnesty, are the ones that in fact by their inaction are actually creating the situation where there is de facto amnesty. The American people recognize that the system is broken and we have to fix what is broken.”

The rocky road ahead

A bill has to pass both chambers of the Congress to become law, therefore having bipartisan groups, working in both the House and the Senate, covering the same issue, with a compatible framework is the perfect formula to anticipate positive results on the discussions.

Diaz-Balart explains the process: “it has to pass in both chambers, and what passes in both chambers originally does not have to be identical. But eventually it has to be an identical bill that passes both chambers. Which is why I am encouraged by what the Senators presented, that is compatible with what in the House many of us have been working at. And they will have to be extensive negotiations and there will extensive battles in both the House and the Senate to get it done; and ultimately there will have to be negotiations between the House and the Senate. But, I am encouraged because of what this group of Senators has put out as basic principles is compatible to what those of us who have been dealing with this issue in the House believe that we have to do. There is still a long way to go and is a very difficult task.”

The input from countless constituents in many focus groups and meetings have been invaluable for Diaz-Balart to ensure the development of a comprehensive legislation that actually covers all different cases of this very complex issue. “We have already had many of those already. We had one recently on January 14th in my office and there will be hearings in the Congress. It is a very difficult, very complex and very controversial process but I am convinced we have to do it this year. The Speaker of the House John Boehner has been very emphatic we have to get it done this year and that is one of the reasons I think we can get it done, because Republican speaker says we got to do it this year”.

The genuine bipartisan intention exists to achieve a solution that completely overhauls the Immigration System in the United States. It looks like light at the end of the tunnel for more than 11 million of shadows is finally getting closer.